11 day stay in august: what to do and when

Just extended my 6 days stay to a 11 day stay, with the free dining plan! So happy! We have a 6 day tickets with park hopper plus meaning that we will be splitting our time between parks, water parks and resort days. What should I look at for choosing which parks to do on each day: crowds? EMH? My sons are avid SW fans and my youngest would like to do jedi training, but my DH is not a fan of getting up at 5:30 am to be at a 7:00 am rope drop at HS. Should I optimize my Park hopper and do mornings at one park and evening at another. I am so confused!!! too much to see!!!

Thanks

Wow! That is incredible. Where are you planning to stay?

If you plan to use EMH mornings you could hop to a less busy park later in the day

At pop

I have a 10 day trip planned but we only have 4 day tickets (non park hopper). I have planned one day of rest between each park day. I am traveling with my mom and children ages 4 and 6. I have planned a day at Animal Kingdom lodge. I will have to verify the times once August hits but we have the following planned one day.

3:30 cookie decorating at Saana
4:00 cultural tour
5:00 Dinner at Saana
6:30 African drums circle at the library.

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In August you will need some sort of down time due the heat. We usually split our days, with on park in the morning and another in the evening. We also try to use evening EMH if available - especially in MK and AK. I would do the park days in blocks of 2days, with the second night being for EMH or late night firework watching. Then I would have a rest day - throw in 2 water days and you have 6 park, 3 rest and 2 water parks. On the rest days I would use one to go to Disney Springs and have a meal, visit the coke shop and do some bowling (or similar). On another day I would visit some of the resorts - Polynesian, Animal kingdom ann Grand Floridian would be my choices. I would also look to take in the HDDR review if you have not seen it.

@juby72 how old are your kids? We can’t participate in evening EMH. It’s just toooo late for us. We can sometimes participate in morning EMH but I have to be careful what we have scheduled the evening before.

I first select which parks on which days based on crowd level. I don’t change parks if the CL increases because I’ve usually already secured ADRs and have started working my touring plans.

If my kiddo was deadest on jedi training, I would leave DH at the hotel and get a jump start on your day. Let him meet up with you later.

Whether you park hop or not is a personal choice. Maybe you don’t need a break from the heat. Maybe you do. I have stayed at POP 2x. 1x with park hoppers (& I hated it) and 1x without park hoppers and I enjoyed myself much more. We did not take midday breaks either time. Park hoppers are much more useful if you will be doing midday breaks.

Some of the resort activities are free and others are $. It was $20 or $25 for a tie dye Mickey shirt at Pop during our last stay. Got it home and realized it didn’t turn out. Huge waste of $$ for us for a very short activity. Wouldn’t hurt to get a activity schedule ahead of time to see what you may/may not be interested in doing.

For our next trip, we have a couple new non-park activities planned - surrey bikes at the Boardwalk, pony rides at Ft Wilderness. Don’t forget about Disney Springs. We love the Lego store and the pop up entertainment.

@SillySamsMom: my kids are 7&10. I think that my youngest will be able to follow because he is like the energizer bunny but my eldest might Checkout if he’s had enough. I will follow your suggestions about leaving my DH at the resort and meet up with him.

And @Markgrowlands, great suggestion, I will use it for sure. Now, if I could just change my BOG reservation for a quieter day, it would be perfect! They are so hard to get!

Since you are going in August it will be HOT; the four main parks will be intolerabe between 1200 and 6:00 PM. I would plan on doing AM EMH whenever possible and get as much done before noon as possible. Then go back and hibernate in your air conditioned rooms until at least 5:00 PM, after which return to a park. You’ll also want to get to the water parks right at RD or else you’ll be in long lines for any of the slides. And remember, it might be relatively cool when you’re in the water, it will still be fiendishly hot when you’re not in the water.

@bswan26, is it still very hot on the last 2 weeks of August?

Yes! We’ve done the last two weeks of August twice (and going again this year), and it was extremely warm. Be prepared to sweat a lot! That said, there are many opportunities to get into an air conditioned (or at least shaded) area at all of the parks. Plan not to be too active in the afternoons.

@paulasc maybe we’ll see each other! Thanks everyone! I will post my plan soon to see what you think!

We’re at Pop as well, so we could easily run into each other! We arrive on the 23rd. How about you?

Like the sun, but humid. It doesn’t start “cooling down” until sometime in October…

LOL we arrive on 8/23 also and are staying at Pop

Floridian here. Yes, it will be hot and humid. Assume “jungle hot” conditions.

My number one tip at WDW is “drink more water than you think you need”. I tell my friends and family they should be stopping for a bathroom break every 3-4 rides.

Take breaks as needed, drink extra water, don’t push yourself.

And have fun! :smiley: :mouse::european_castle::fireworks:

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We arrive on the 20th until the 31.

Ok, so here is my plan, if it can help someone:

Arrival on aug 20: check in and evening at disney springs
day 1: TL: 10@6, diner at Sassagoula French Quarter
Day 2 (aug 22): AK all day with 4 hour break from 12 pm to 4 pm.
Day 3 (aug 23): HS from 7am to 11pm with very long break in the afternoon. ADR Sci-Fi at 5pm
Day 4 (aug 24) water park or resort day
Day 5 (aug 25) MK (ADR BOG 9:15 am) Only 1/2 of MK
Day 6 (aug 26) EP all day with a break as long as we can from 1pm to 5 pm
Day 7: Waterpark or Resort Day. Diner at Pepper market Coronado
Day 8 MK in the morning Break from 1pm to 6pm. Epcot from 6pm to 11pm
Day9 AK from 9@1pm. MK from 6pm to 11pm
Day 10: TL or BB, packing in the evening.
Day 11: Leaving super early.

What do you guys think?

On a general review – love it. You plan them like I plan them.

:white_check_mark: Non-park day every 2-3 days
:white_check_mark: A mid-day break (3–4 hours at least) every park day

It’s the only way to do it.

:droplet: Water, water, water, all day. Especially in August.

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